Absorbed
by Obsessive Freak
Summary: When Atlantis’ flag team discovers a strange device on a planet, it starts to have a strange effect on one of them. Pretty blue lights and whumping to follow.
1. Chapter 1

Absorbed

Author: Obsessive Freak

Rating: T - Just in case

Summary: When Atlantis' flag team discovers a strange device on a planet, it starts to have a strange effect on one of them. Pretty blue lights and whumping to follow.

Characters: McKay centric, but everyone is invited! (Set sometime in season 2 after Epiphany)

Spoilers: As far as I know none at the moment, but I'll give you a heads up if that changes.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or any other things related to Stargate Atlantis. They are property of MGM and… others that I don't know off the top of my head. Just thought I might borrow them all for a while for a bit of fun.

A/N: Ok so I have to be honest. This is my first attempt at writing fan fiction _ever_! So hopefully I am not completely terrible at it. You'll have to let me know what you think. I'm really, really new at this, so please be gentle. That said, I'm looking for any constructive criticism, to help me out. This chapter has not been seen by anyone other than me, so all mistakes are mine. Hopefully there's not many. If people think what I have done so far is any good, I'll look into 'investing' in one for the following chapters. Kinda nervous about posting this though, so I wanted to see what people thought first

A/N: This chapter has now been updated and seen by my beta. Thankyou so much Jess, you are a saint! Hope I haven't caused too much hair. Having said that, I still cringe at this chapter, but it does get better.

--------------------------------- **Absorbed** Chapter 1

"Come on McKay, pick up the pace a little would ya!" Yelled a very irritated Sheppard, looking back towards the grumbling scientist. The team had been walking for close to 20 minutes now through the light bush land of M4G-739. What was supposed to be a routine sweep over an apparent abandoned world, proved to be more interesting when Dr McKay picked up significant power readings in the jumper emanating from somewhere below. Busting with excitement McKay had set off into the trees, closely followed by the rest of his team. The walk seemed to be going quite peaceful, with McKay deep in concentration, focusing on his data pad. This was up until about 5 minutes ago when the scientist's mood had taken a change for the worse. Obviously their lack of progress was getting to him, as he fell behind and resorted to his usual forms of whining and unfortunately for the others, things didn't seem to be improving…

"Yeah okay! You don't have to go so fast!" The snappy scientist replied, tripping over an exposed tree root, making him grunt in frustration.

"You're the one who keeps reminding us that we only have a couple of hours to do this." Sheppard sighed to himself. He was actually enjoying the hike through the trees. The landscape wasn't as green as the other planets he had visited and the vegetation was quite different, but he couldn't help being fascinated by the glow that seemed to radiating from the trees. Unfortunately there was just something about Rodney's continuous complaints that seemed to suck all the beauty out of everything.

"Yes, yes I know that!" Sneered Rodney cutting into his thoughts. "Yet knowing this, you still managed to park the jumper, as far away as you can! I mean what was the matter with that clearing up there?" He asked, pointing up ahead to a large patch of empty land

"And over there. And what about that one we passed 10 minutes ago? That would have been fine too! I swear you just do it to annoy me."

He shot Sheppard an angry questioning look.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied, turning towards Teyla and Ronon to share a mischievous smirk.

"Hey I saw that!" All the others could do was keep walking, well aware that an increase in complaints was now inevitable. Even so, Sheppard could not help concluding to himself that it all worth it. A further five minutes later, he was beginning to re-evaluate this decision, as the doctor's rambling continued in greater speed and in growing volume.

Deciding to risk further wrath, Teyla spoke up in an attempt to change the subject. "How far away do you believe we are now Dr McKay?" To her relief, this seemed to do the trick momentarily, as the man fell deep into thought, looking down to further study the data in front of him.

"I don't really know. The reading was coming from an area about 3 miles up from one of the large clearings _we didn't land in!_" He replied, tone growing as he shot Sheppard another sour look.

"Alright, alright that's enough."

"Yeah but if you'd just…"

"Rodney" He said cutting in "How far away are we?"

Shooting Sheppard another look, he sighed before begrudgingly looking down at his data pad again.

"Not too far I'm guessing. The energy readings are coming clearer, so we're definitely on the right track. In fact I think this might be the clearing I was just referring too ."

"Good so it should just be up the road then" replied Sheppard with a smug look, doing his best to irritate his friend.

"If by 'up the road' you mean 3 miles!"

Teyla simply rolled her eyes at the two's banter and looked towards Ronon, who was breaking twigs off a nearby tree as he slowly walked past. She couldn't quite understand why the colonel went out of the way to get the scientist wound up. Things would be a lot easier and more peaceful if the two would just keep their mouths shut.

"I mean come on look at it! It's about the half the size of a football oval, you definitely could have parked here! No trouble at all!" he said, voice continuing to grow.

"I didn't want to risk it." Replied Sheppard

"Didn't want to risk it! Yeah but… wait a minute…" Something had caught the scientists attention, as he stopped in his path, to look at his data pad.

"What?" Replied Ronon, as the rest of the group stopped a little further ahead.

"It's bigger…" He said looking up at them in astonishment.

"What is?" Replied Sheppard. All jokes and torments now forgotten.

"The field"

"The energy field?" Asked Teyla taking a step forward to take a look over his shoulder.

"No the landing field!" he replied, getting angry again. "According to this, the area here is substantially larger to the one where we parked!"

Sheppard, Ronon and Teyla stood there for a second, just looking at him in disbelief. _He can't be serious right? _Raising his eyebrow in the way that only Sheppard can, he turned to the other two standing either side of him. Sharing a look, the three of them turned around and proceeded to head off again, leaving the aggravated doctor behind.

"Explain that to me huh!"

"Come on Rodney" Sheppard called out to him

"No! No no no nonono no! I want to know why you are constantly doing things just to spite me!" His voice rising, as the others disappeared just ahead of him.

"Come on McKay, we're leaving. You're just wasting time!" Came Sheppard's voice in the distance.

"Oh Yeah! And what has all this unnecessary walking been, Huh!" He yelled back, as he set off after them.

"It's called 'exercise'!"

"Is it just me, or are the trees around here looking a little different?" Sheppard asked as the four of them continued to walk towards the unknown power source.

"It's not just you" Replied Ronon. Sheppard couldn't help but smiling. That's why he liked Ronon. Direct and straight to the point. No cryptic or sarcastic responses like the ones he usually got from McKay and the other scientists back on Atlantis.

"The vegetation does seem to have changed." Added Teyla

"Yeah, it may have something to do with the residual radiation being admitted from the energy field." Stated McKay, looking down to his data pad.

This brought Sheppard's attention back to the question at hand. See _this_ was what he was talking about. McKay can be such a know it all sometimes, but it was still interesting. "Really?"

"I don't really know, either way we should find out soon." _Ok maybe he had spoken too soon_

"According to these readings, the device is just up ahead… In fact, just in there" he said pointing to what looked like the entrance of a cave. _Scrap that, he really IS a know it all_

As the four approached the gapping entrance to the cave, they couldn't help notice the excitement return to their favourite resident genius. Who knew that an Astrophysicist could move that fast? In particular one who claimed only minutes ago that he couldn't walk anymore. That was forgotten now as he skipped forward, the other three close behind. It wasn't long until they all reached the threshold and saw McKay's enthusiasm wash away once again as he peered into the pitch black darkness up ahead.

"Well this looks promising," said Sheppard as he edged in towards McKay for a better look

"How do you figure that?" Asked McKay, quite baffled. _Only in Sheppard's World can 'small, dark, damp space' be translated into 'something promising'_

"Well usually when we come across a dark confined space, emitting an energy reading, we find something really cool."

Rodney thought about this for a moment, and although he would never admit it, the colonel had a good point.

"Looks dark"

"Yes! Thankyou for that Ronon!" McKay hissed, throwing the runner his best 'you are an idiot look'

"Your welcome" The runner grumbled, sharing a humoured grin with Sheppard, who had just pulled out his life signs detector.

"Reading nothing here" he informed the group as he packed it away, this time pulling out his P-90. Switching on the light, he took a small hesitant step forward to take a quick scan of the immediate area in front of him. "Looks clear…" he reported, taking a step back.

"You didn't sound that confident" McKay noted, with a more than slight hint of fear and nervousness in his voice.

_S_heppard looked back towards his team, and noticed that Teyla too seemed to be giving him a questioning look.

"You picked up on that huh? Well the truth is I can't really see that far in, it's too dark." He really did try, but just couldn't help smile at the panicked look Rodney flashed him. "Look it should be fine, we'll just take it slow. If we see anything '_problematic'_…" he said shooting his friend a look "…we'll just turn back around." Despite his best efforts at being reassuring, Rodney still didn't seem too convinced.

"Ok then, if you don't want to come in that's fine, I'm sure we can find the power source without you." He said turning back towards the entrance with agrin on his face. _Wait for it, wait for it…_

"Ohhh No no no! There is no way in hell I'm going to let you go in there fiddling around with an unknown power source. Your likely to blow us all up!"

Bingo! This was too easy "So I guess that means your coming in then?" 

"Of course. Why wouldn't I? Go ahead Oh fearless leader. Do your thing. Lead the way!" Rodney said in his best sarcastic tone, trying to disguise the nerves still evident in his voice. Sheppard merely grinned at him before heading back towards the cave, giving orders for both Teyla and Ronon to stay put, and keep a look out. As the two entered the darkness of the cave, Sheppard could not help but notice Rodney's breathing increase the further in they went. The light from the P-90 did little to illuminate the path in front of them, and John could feel Rodney tense up behind him, as the entrance slowly faded, and the darkness eventually consumed them. As the two continued on, McKay did his best to keep his nerves under control, trying not to think about how small the cave was, but ultimately failing.

"What was that?" McKay whispered in a panic as he stopped and franticly looked around him.

"What was what? Sheppard asked, turning to face the wide eyed scientist.

"SSSShhhhhhhhhh! There it is again, do you hear it?"

Sheppard strained his ears for a few seconds, but still nothing. He was just planning something clever and sarcastic to say to mock the man, when he heard it. A low grumble noise.

"There! There! Did you hear that!"

"Yeah I heard it" He answered, pulling his P-90 up ready to use if necessary.

"I thought you said there was no life signs in here!" McKay squeaked, all attempts at keeping his composure totally gone as he moved a few steps backwards, reaching for his 9mm.

"There wasn't!" He hissed back at him, as another low grumble filtered through the narrow passageway growing in volume.

"Wait! I think that's coming from the cave" squeaked McKay once more. "I don't think it's very stable in here." He continued on, taking a few more steps backwards.

"Yeah I think your right." The colonel replied as another rumble erupted. "Ok lets get out of here…" Rodney didn't need to be told twice, already moving back the way the two had come, when an ear splitting crack echoed through the narrow passageway causing both men to freeze. The cracking continued as Rodney swirled around, just in time to see the colonel disappear, swallowed by the earth on the cave floor.

"SHEPPARD!"

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A/N: So what do you think? Any good? Should I continue? Please leave your thoughts, if I don't hear from anyone I'm going to assume that people think it's crap. Anyway if you're still with me, thanks for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Wow I'm terrible with updates! Sorry about that. I had lots of uni work leading up to the mid-year break, but now I should have some more time. This chapter was originally 3 lines long, but I ended up adding and changing things, so I'm hoping it doesn't drag on too much. Thanks again to my beta for making sure the whole thing actually makes sense.

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_Chapter 2_

Ronon was bored. In actual fact, he found himself bored a lot of the time since joining the team. The idea of doing anything other than running and killing wraith, was something he had learnt long ago not to think about. Now the time had finally come, he was forever thankful to his new people, however it was still taking time for him to adjust to this new life. He was in no way complaining, but he couldn't help feeling bored on occasions like this, and he soon found himself hanging upside down from the nearest tree branch. He could tell Teyla was annoyed with him for doing so, they were supposed to be guarding the entrance to the cave, but he couldn't see the point. The planet was uninhabited and they had not detected, or even seen any indication of any life signs since they'd arrived. From this new vantage point, he looked at all that surrounded him. Everything seemed so different from this angle. The trees were amazing, almost glowing in the light, as they gently moved with the breeze. Ronon felt himself relax, and take in every aspect of the environment around him. _It was good to relax_. He could hear the leaves rustle in the wind, and the low steady sounds of his own breathing. He could hear Teyla's small sigh as she looked up at him, and then the soft sounds of her shoes moving slowly across the earth below. He could hear her the buzz of insects somewhere in the distance, and he could hear…

"What was that?" He asked suddenly, flipping down from his perch and moving closer to Teyla. "Did you hear that?"

"No I didn't, what was it?"

"I don't know. It sounded like it was coming from the cave." He replied moving towards the entrance, weapon now drawn as he edged closer.

"Ronon wait" Teyla moved up beside him, placing a hand on his arm, turning him to face her. "The colonel checked for life signs before entering and could not find any. If they need our assistance they will radio us."

Ronon stopped and thought about this for a while. She was probably right, but he couldn't help the bad feeling that was creeping up inside of him. After a few seconds he had made a decision. If they hadn't heard from the pair in ten minutes, then he would investigate why.

---SGA---

Rodney found himself suddenly thrown into complete darkness, as the little light they had, had disappeared along with Sheppard. What was worse, was that he had no way of telling where the large gaping hole in the floor lay, and therefore could not risk moving any closer in order to help.

"SHEPPARD!"

_Oh this cannot be happening!_ "Colonel!" He desperately called out again, but still no answer. This was when he started to panic. He _really_ didn't like small dark places, and he especially didn't like the idea of being in there alone. In particular when his best friend could be lying not far away from him seriously injured. He needed help and he needed it now!

"Radio!" He whispered to himself, scrambling around in the darkness trying to free the handpiece attached to his tack vest. Clicking the switch to the right frequency, he called out to the remaining members of his team.

"Teyla! Ronon! Do you read me? We need help! The colonel has fallen down some kind of hole in the cave floor. He's not responding, I think he may be hurt. Repeat, get in here now!" Rodney waited for any confirmation that the others had received his message, but was only met with the familiar sound of static. _Well that's just great!_ Moving several steps further, towards the direction of the entrance, he tried again, hoping to pick up some kind of signal.

"Teyla! Ronon! Do you copy?" He yelled once more. Still nothing. "DAMN!" He yelled to himself.They were in trouble and if he wasn't before, he was definitely panicking now. He needed light. _But wait he had light! _

"Idiot!" He muttered under his breath, as he removed his pack and began searching through his gear for his little flashlight.

"For someone who claims to be so superiorly intelligent, you really can be a total dumb ass, sometimes cant you?" He continued as he pulled out the little light, turning the switch and sighing in relief as it flickered on. "I mean seriously, your walking around in the pitch black darkness of an alien cave, that should have been the first thing you do!"

Though it was in no way helping in the physical sense, McKay could not help the constant berating comments he muttered to himself. It somehow seemed to calm him down, having someone to talk to, be it himself… _but that's not the point._

Scanning the area just ahead, he was just able to make out the large whole that had been created, a few feet in front of him. Moving slowly closer, he kneeled down at the edge and with the help of his new light, peered down into the darkness below where he could just make out the shape of a man. A very still and unmoving man. Rodney could not help the lump that was rapidly developing in the back of his throat, or the knots now in his stomach as he peered down to his friend.

"Sheppard!"

---SGA---

It was dead silent and he could start to feel coldness on his face, as he slowly came too. It wasn't long after considering this, that he realised he wasn't the infirmary. There appeared to be a lack of soft pillows, but more than anything, there were definitely no painkillers, muffling the growing jackhammers in his skull. Deciding that it was best to remain still for the moment, he quickly went through a mental checklist, trying to determine if he was injured and how badly. His whole body ached, limbs sprawled out in an awkward fashion, but as far as he could tell there was nothing broken. He could hear his breathing hitch a few times in his chest, but other than that there didn't seem to be anything out of place, and after a short while, his breathing steadied and came easier. _What the hell happened?_ Slowly prying his eyes open, he peered into the blackness surrounding him. After blinking a few times, in a futile attempt to have his eyes adjust to his new environment, he could not do anything other than lie in horror, as realisation started to dawn on him. _He was blind! What the hell happened!_

He was starting to panic, and could feel his chest slowly tightening, making it difficult to breath. Gathering his strength, he quickly sat up, and just as quickly regretted it, as his head swam and the room started to spin. (_Which was pretty impressive when he couldn't see anything)_. Feeling nauseous, he let himself fall back onto the cold, uneven earth, panting out loud, as he tried to remember how he got there.

_There were trees. They were walking through the bush… something about a field?…Someone complaining…McKay… energy readings… dark, cold… cave… _

Suddenly it all came flushing back to him. The cave, the rumbling, the ground opening up. He couldn't help but sigh in relief. That explained why it was so dark, at least he wasn't blind. With that new piece of information he allowed himself to relax a little, before a second thought hit him. _Where was McKay?_ Quickly sitting up again, he ignored the wave of dizziness, and aimlessly looked around the area for any sign of the scientist. He could remember looking over at his friend and seeing his shocked face as he plummeted downwards, he had to be there somewhere.

"McKay?" His voice croaked out. Listening for any response or movement, but hearing none, he started to climb to his hands and knees, and move towards the direction he had last seen McKay. God his knee hurt! Deciding against standing up at that moment, with his head still doing somersaults, he made his way across the ground, having travelled about three meters, before hitting what appeared to be a wall. Running his hands across it, he realised that McKay was more than three meters away from him, when he had fallen through, meaning that he must still be up in the main passageway. He allowed himself to relax a little, slowly crawling back to his original position among the rubble to rest his aching body. Rodney was ok, he just knew it and that was all that mattered. He would go get help, and they would all be out of there in no time. Closing his eyes once again, he one again listened for any movement, and was suddenly surprised when the heard the loud call of his name.

"Sheppard!" 

Cracking his eyes open once again, he could now see a small light shining down towards him.

"Hey McKay, where have you been?" He replied with a small smile, glad to hear his voice for once.

"Oh thank god! Are you okay?" Came the relieved voice.

"Yeah I think so. I got a pretty bad headache, and I'm pretty sure that old football injury to my knee has finally come back to haunt me, but that's about it. Nothing serious anyway." He began to sit up once again to get a better look at his friend, ".How about you? Are you ok?"

"What? Oh, yeah I'm fine… You sure you're ok?" Sheppard couldn't see McKay's face, but he could tell just from his tone, that he wasn't too convinced.

"Yeah, just knocked the wind out of me more than anything I think. Where are the others?"

That seemed to do the trick, as McKay turned the light away from him for a second, presumably to look over at something. "Ahh, they're still outside, I couldn't get the radio to work. There must be some kind of interference, blocking the signal…" His mind started to wonder momentarily, before returning to the colonel. "How big is it down there anyway?"

Sheppard sat for a moment looking around. With the help of McKays light, he could now see the depth of the whole. It looked to be around five or possibly even six meters deep, but other than that, he hadn't been able to determine much else.

"I don't know Rodney" He bit, back "it's a little dark down here if you hadn't noticed!"

"Well what happened to your P-90?" McKay asked, ignoring the fact that he had also been lightless for sometime.

"Ahhhh.., good question. I haven't been able to find it." _It was a lie, he had totally forgotten about the light on the gun, but there was no way in hell, he would let McKay know that._ "You know, with the whole darker than oil thing, going on!" He snapped, starting to get a little irritated. _Why was he asking stupid questions about the hole? _"Maybe you could shine your torch around a little bit, and help me find it?"

McKay did just that, and it only took a few seconds before John caught glimpse of something half buried in the dirt, moving over to it, he was relieved to find it still working.

"Ahh good, now hows about you going to get some help. I don't particularly like the idea of living down here, it's a little too dusty for my liking."

Rodney simply scoffed at the man, watching him slowly rise to his feet. Satisfied that he wasn't going to fall over he muttered back a "fine" before moving off to collect the others. "Be back soon" he called back over his shoulders with a slight smile. "Don't go anywhere!"

Rolling his eye's Sheppard moved back a bit, taking in the dirt walls around him. Now that he had a light, he could see exactly how large the room was. _Room? When did it suddenly become a room?_ Moving over to one of the walls, he noticed that it was in fact rough stone rather than compacted dirt. _'Things are starting to get a little more interesting'_, he thought to himself as he moved along to further investigate the other walls.

---SGA---

"Ok that's it, ten minutes are up."

Teyla looked over at the Sadetan in confusion. He had been acting strange since jumping from the tree several minutes ago, however she had to admit, that she too couldn't help that nagging feeling she had been experiencing ever since then. Something wasn't right and they could both feel it. Pulling out his radio, she watched as Ronon moved closer to the cave, trying to contact the others.

"Sheppard? McKay? Come in." Both waited silently for a reply that never came. Following Ronon's lead, the two of them pulled out their guns and flashlights, and moved off to enter the cave. The two had travelled only a short distance, when they heard a noise moving towards them. Ronon raised his gun in anticipation, while Teyla called out into the darkness.

"Colonel Sheppard?"

"Teyla?" Came the surprised voice in return.

"McKay" Ronon grumbled in recognition, quickly lowering his weapon, so not to startle the man.

"What are you two doing in here?" He asked, finally reaching the light

"Came looking for you." Came the short blunt answer

Looking around the scientist, and noticing he was alone, Teyla finally voiced the question both her and Ronon wanted to hear. "Where is Colonel Sheppard?"

A slight flash of confusion entered Rodney's face, as he turned around to look behind him, before looking back to his team. "Oh he's back there, that's why I came to get you. He's gotten himself stuck in a hole."

"And by that you mean…?"

"What? Oh no. Literally, he's stuck in a hole. There was some kind of cave in or something, and down he went." He quickly explained, waving his arms around dramatically retelling the story. "We should get back there", he said turning and heading back the way he'd just come from.

Teyla and Ronon shared a quick look, before moving off after him. Common sense told her that the colonel was not badly hurt, McKay didn't seem overly panicked, or rushed at all. So she just resigned herself to simply following the man in silence. It took them a few minutes to reach the spot where all the commotion had taken place, Rodney stopping abruptly as he realised he was about to walk right into gap himself. Dumping their gear, the group carefully gathered around the outside of the hole, shining their lights down into the darkness.

"Sheppard?"

Appearing from somewhere to the right, Sheppard looked up at the trio with a grin. "Hey guys"

"Are you uninjured?" Teyla asked leaning in closer for a better look.

"Yeah, just a sore knee, no biggie."

"Ok" McKay said sighing, as he regarded their packs lying a few meters away."Well now that we've established that, we're gonna have to find a way to get you out of there." He looked back to the hole, to see that the colonel had once again disappeared. Frowning a little bit, he tried to angle his torch in, for a better look.

"Actually, you may wanna hold up on that for a bit. I'm thinking you may want to come down here and check something out first" came Sheppard's voice from bellow.

"Why? What is it? What did you find?" McKay asked as the Colonel came back into view.

"I don't know, but it looks really cool." Looking up with a huge grin.

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A/N: Wow this chapter was long! I think that the chapters may be reducing in size after this. Good news though – I officially know the general direction of where I'm going now. So what did people think, am I getting any better? Was there too much useless rambling? Do I use the word 'he' too much? Please leave a review and tell me what you thought of it. Any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated, even if it's of the harsh kind.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

A/N: Yeah still no good with updates… sorry looks sheepish

On the other hand, thanks so much for everyone who has reviewed so far! It's great to hear from everyone. I'm glad some people seem to be enjoying the story so far. All the comments are really helpful so thanks again.

Anyway, moving on. We finally get a taste of a story line now, so here we go…

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"Okay, steady, steady… Hey, I said steady!"

After a quick search for ropes, and a slightly longer argument, as to which was the most effective way to secure it to the cave wall, McKay found himself being slowly lowered down by Ronon. He squirmed uncomfortably within the harness, trying to keep the circulation flowing around his legs, bitting down on his lips with each jerk. "Geeze, Ronon! Do you understand the word steady? Sheppard a little help here!"

Looking around, the now slightly lighted area, Rodney noticed that once again, the colonel had disappeared from the main clearing, no doubt off messing around with the strange device again. "Where are you anyway? Do I need to remind you not to touch anything!"

Hitting the ground with a no so gentle thump, McKay untangled himself from the rope and stared up at Ronon.

"Thankyou" He said sarcastically, before rushing off to join Sheppard. Moving off to the side, he could make out a narrow passage way leading into another room. Entering the room, he started to give the colonel a piece of his mind about being left to dangle at the mercy of a wookie, when he came to an abrupt stop.

"Wow!" That earned him a big grin, as the Colonel turned to face him.

"Told you it was cool".

The device sat a couple of feet off the ground and consisted of a wide cylinder shaped body, which was attached somehow to the side of the rock wall. Though silent, it was emitting a faint blue light, which swirled and hovered a couple of inches above the ground like virtual water. McKay froze in awe at the device, transfixed in the soft rippling movement, the light played across the floor. After several minutes, he was pulled out of trance by the other two members of his team as they finally joined them. Taking the opportunity, McKay pulled out his equipment to take different energy readings.

"Well this is definitely what we're looking for alright. Unfortunately it looks like the power supply is nearly depleted."

"Do we know what it is?" Asked Sheppard

"No idea, but from these readings and the fact that it's pretty much located underground, I'm guessing it's not a weapon. Some kind of shield maybe? Of course if that were true, then it wouldn't be much use now. In fact I'm not sure it's doing much at all."

"Okay" said Sheppard stepping in for a closer look. "So what do we do with it?"

"Well from the look of it, it's not attached to anything, which would indicate that the power source is located within the device itself, I recommend we get it back to Atlantis for some further testing."

"Is that such a good idea?" Asked Teyla

"Why not?"

"Well you just said, you didn't know what it was." Replied Sheppard.

"Look I can say with almost certainty that's it not a weapon. The structure alone would indicate that. Not to mention the fact that it's pretty much dead. It's not like its going to be missed either. According to the Ancient database, this planet has been uninhabited for thousands of years."

"Yeah ok, point taken." Sheppard took a moment to look at the device again, as though if he stared long enough, all the answers would become clear. Rodney was right, it didn't seem to be dangerous, and certainly nobody would miss it, but he couldn't help the strange feeling he felt whenever he got close to the machine, it was almost like he was drawn to it somehow. The blue, dancing light was hypnotic and enticing, and just plain out cool. Looking over at the others, he couldn't help smile at the eager face of the science leader, if was obvious he was itching to go play with his new toy.

"Alright." Sheppard briefly wondered to himself, if McKay realised just how powerful that pleading look of his was, as he watched the scientists blue eyes light up.

"I guess the next question, is how are we going to get it out?"

"We'll that's quite simple actually. It seems that there's a release leaver at the bottom here." He said pointing to an area on the rock face, just above the puddle of light. "The real question is how we're going to get it out of the hole up there, its pretty big."

"Lets just focus on one thing at a time ok? Go ahead and release it."

With a nod, McKay made his way towards the device and the hidden leaver. Taking his time to carefully look over the device once more, he moved around to the side, as to not disturb the pool of light before bracing himself against the wall with his right hand, and reaching forward with his left. As he got closer, the light below suddenly flashed without warning and changed to a bright orange. "Woooaah" Yelped McKay as he backed away.

"What was that?" Sheppard was a little more than slightly concerned

"I don't know" McKay said, looking back to check the energy readings, all the while trying to regain control over his increased heartbeat. "It looks like it just had a power spike."

"Why?"

"I'm not sure. This thing is pretty old, probably just a random malfunction or something." Just who he was really trying to convince, he wasn't quite sure

"You sure about that?" Sheppard remained sceptical, remembering their last encounter with unknown Ancient technology.

"No" Whispered McKay to himself. "Look I'm sure its fine" He said a little louder trying to sound confident as he checked his readings a third time.

"Alright then." Sheppard was still not very convinced

"Ok" Rodney sighed to himself, as he moved toward the leaver again. "Here we go." He paused slightly to check for any other strange malfunctions before reaching in and pulling the leaver, releasing it from the wall where it fell with a crash, knocking Rodney off his feet. Sheppard rushed forward with the sound of Rodney's cry and watched as the scientist grasped his left hand painfully

"You ok?" Asked Sheppard

"Ahh, I think it just broke my wrist, it just… oh no…"

"What is it?

"The light. It stopped working! It must have been damaged when it fell." All concern for his arm, now gone as he moved in to investigate

"That seems unusual." Said Teyla, moving in for a closer look.

"What do you mean?"

"Well if it truly is an Ancient device that has been here for thousands of years, It seems strange that it would break so easily." She replied

"Most Ancient stuff seems to be pretty indestructible." Said Sheppard.

"I don't know what to say. It may just be because I unplugged it, kind of like pulling out a power cord, before the backup battery kicks in. Which that in itself doesn't make much sense, because it didn't appear to be connected with anything." Rodney was clearly disheartened, speaking in a very sombre tone, like one of his friends had just died. "Look, I need to get it back to Atlantis before I can tell you anything."

"Ok" said Sheppard stepping forward. "Pack it up then, and lets get going."

"What? Are you going to at least give me a hand?"

"Well it is your toy McKay"

"I cant carry that thing! Have you seen my wrist!" Holding up his left hand, Sheppard could see even in the dimly lit room, that it didn't appear to look right. Coming up to Rodney, for closer inspection, he could see the joint already partially swelling.

"Oh stop being a baby, suck it up"

"What! It's probably broken! At the very least sprained. Knowing my luck I've probably done permanent nerve damage!"

"Oh come on Rodney, it's nothing. If you promise to stop whining I'll bandage it for you."

Pulling out the little med kit from his vest, Sheppard forced Rodney to the ground and began to treat the offending limb. By now the shock had started to wear off, and each movement to his hand sent a sharp burning pain shooting up into shoulders and head.

"Okay, well that's all I can do for now, we'll back home soonand Beckett can take a look at it."

Rodney didn't reply to that, just continued to wince against the pain, as Sheppard offered a hand to help him up, before moving off to secure the device, ready to transport.

"You wanna give me a hand with this Ronon?"

"Be careful with it ok?" Rodney warned as the two of them took hold of the device.

"I thought you said you broke it" Replied Ronon

"No, I…I… Just be careful ok" He said as the two struggled with the device.

"Man this thing is heavy!" Exclaimed Sheppard.

"Yeah, I bet you wish you hadn't parked so far away now huh?" Rodney replied with a smug look, to which Sheppard simply ignored, as he continued to help Ronon hoist the strange device up to the surface. 

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A/N: What does everyone think? With any luck the net update shouldn't be far away. Thanks for everyone who is still reading.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Urg! First off thanks for everyone who has left a review for me, it is really helping my confidence. If anyone would like to add some suggestions feel free to. I've been having major computer problems as of late, constisting of hard drives, loud bangs, smoke and bad smells. As a result I have for the moment no access to the majority of my files and my computer keeps dying, so sorry about the delays. Anyways excuses excuses…

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_Chapter 4_

"So do we know what it is yet?" asked Weir as she walked into the science lab

"Ahhh no, not yet" replied Zelenka, looking up from a computer.

"So what do we know?" She asked, moving towards the device, which had been set up on a couple of benches next to the wall.

"Well actually…" he began, as he moved to join Elizabeth

"Very little I'm afraid" Interrupted a muffled voice.

Elizabeth shot Radek a puzzled look, to which he responded to by pointing over to the bench next to her, just as an exasperated McKay emerged from underneath it, where he was examining the machine.

"I still can't get it to work again, and I can't begin to understand what it is, until I can."

"We!" Chimed in Zelenka "Think it may have been damaged."

"Yeah, but that doesn't make any sense. I mean, I can't find anything wrong with it. For all intensive purposes, it should work."

"Yes but it doesn't" Zelenka reminded him

"Yes but it should"

"But it doesn't"

"Yes! I know that, but it should!" McKay replied, getting aggravated. "There's no logical reason why it isn't working. As far as I can tell, everything's where it should be, it's just not making sense."

"What about the power source?" Asked Weir

"The power was limited, yes, but it still should be more than enough to get it to work."

"But Colonel Sheppard mentioned something about a power surge back on the planet, could that have…"

"Yes, yes, yes, but that still wouldn't explain this. It was just a power surge, and besides it was still working after that, it wasn't until I took it off the wall that it stopped."

"Well then perhaps it's connected to the wall somehow, or even the planet." She suggested

"I've already thought of that. There was nothing there to indicate that it was connected anyway to the wall. There are no exposed leads or anything on the wall, or at the back of the device itself. The leaver was just simply holding it up. I mean it's no different to a… to a hook. It just…"

Rodney became lost for words, and sighed in despair.

"Just what?" asked Elizabeth, intrigued be McKay's puzzlement.

"I don't know. It just doesn't make any sense."

"Okay" she replied, slightly disappointed in the lack of answers she was getting. It wasn't too often that McKay got stumped. "Got any other ideas?"

Rodney, just stood for a while thinking, before turning to Radek for help

"Perhaps we could try to interface one of our naqueda generators with the device. Give it a bit more power, just to try to help it start back up again." Zelenka suggested.

"Ah, I don't think that would work, according to these readings there should be still be more than enough power to start it up again and have it working…."

"But… It can't hurt to try" Interrupted Weir, as she stepped in for a closer look. "Do it", she added, as Zelenka nodded and headed out of the lab in search for a generator.

"Keep me posted ok?" She told Rodney as she left the room.

Looking around at her, and then back to the device, he nodded slightly in frustration. "Right."

"Ok, I think that should do it." Said McKay, as he crawled out from behind the device. "What does it say?" He called over to Radek, who was standing nearby taking readings on his computer.

"Not much" He replied, as Rodney walked over to join him. "It hasn't really made a lot of difference, power levels remain much the same."

"Hmmm, and still nothing happens. Well I think we can rule that out as the problem." He said growing weary.

Taking a deep breath, they both looked back up to device. "Okay, lets think about this for a second. " Rodney started, as he moved towards it, thinking back to when he first saw it in operation. "It was producing a light from out the bottom…"

"Maybe the globe's bust?"

"Oh yes! That must be it! I'll just pop down to corner shop and buy another one, shall I?"

"Sorry, I was just…"

"As I was saying! It was producing a light. When I went towards it, it flashed and changed colour. Now let's say it was just a power spike, what would cause that?"

"In an empty cave? I can't think of anything, other than something must have interrupted the power flow."

"Yes, but what?"

"I don't know. To be honest, I don't think it has anything to do with it, I mean you said yourself that it was still working fine after that anyway." Said Zelenka.

"Yeah your right" replied Rodney, as the two of them just stood and stared in hopelessness at the inactive machine, just wondering what they could discover, if only it would start working again.

"Perhaps there's something in the Ancient database that I missed that could explain this. I'll look over it all again first thing in the morning." Radek said, as he headed towards the door.

"In the meantime, I need some sleep, this is giving me a headache. You coming?"

"No, no, I think I'll stay a bit longer." Rodney replied.

Shaking his head, Radek left the lab, leaving Rodney by himself.

Grabbing a chair, he sat down at bench at the opposite side of the room. Starring at the lifeless contraption, he thought back to the underground cavern. The whole thing just didn't make sense. After about 10 minutes of retracing their steps in his mind, Rodney still couldn't figure out what it could have been that caused the machine to stop working.

"Why wont you work!" He asked it, throwing his hands up in frustration, before letting them slam down on the table, remembering his injury too late to do anything about it. "Ow! Damn! Nice Work McKay!" he hissed angrily at himself. All the while clutching his arm painfully to his chest, waiting for the sudden sharp pain to subside. Rubbing his tired eyes, and brushing his hair back with his hands, he looked back at the device one more time, before calling it a night, however this time, he noticed something a little different. A little spark came shooting out the bottom of the device, where the light once was. Surprised, Rodney moved closer to investigate.

"Ok this is something. Why are you doing that?" He asked it, heading back to the computer to check the readings.

"Ok power levels are fluctuating. Why is that?"

Looking over at the device again, he saw the interface that he and Radek had left hooked into.

"Well that may have something to do with it" He replied to himself, as he moved forward to disconnect the naquada generator. Just as he finished, a beam of light shot out of the bottom from where he first noticed the sparks.

"Wow!" Rodney squealed as he quickly jumped away.

The light once again turned into an aqua blue, and had started to shimmer several inches off the floor, just like he had seen back on the planet.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Rodney moved towards it to get a closer look. As he crouched down looking at it, he had an urge to reach out and touch it. As his hand came closer, the pool of light slowly grew in size. Becoming aware of this, he quickly withdrew his arm and stood back up, but it was too late. The light was growing more rapidly, and it was moving in his direction. He attempted to activate his radio to call for help, but there wasn't time. Within seconds, the strange light had completely engulfed him, and there was nothing he could do.


End file.
